Sedition charges slapped on editor and writers

Manila: The justice department charged a publisher of a small-circulated opposition paper and its two columnists for allegedly inciting sedition and for their attacks on President Gloria Arroyo, a justice official said.

Ninez Cacho-Olivares, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Daily Tribune, and Ike Seneres and Herman Tiu-Laurel were those charged, the official said, adding that the charges were filed after Arroyo lifted her declaration of state of emergency on Thursday.

An officer of the Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) submitted columns published by the Daily Tribune, which allegedly contained seditious anti-government remarks, said the official who requested anonymity.

'Not intimidated'

"The CIDG has been reading the columns of the accused," the official explained. The beleaguered Cacho-Olivares said Arroyo could not accept criticism.

"I know that they tried to cow us into submission by having us [and our office] raided [on February 24]. But they saw that I was not intimidated," said Cacho-Olivares.

Inspector Jonathan Pablito of the Police Community Relations Group confirmed that the policemen pulled out near the Tribune's office an hour after Arroyo lifted her declaration of state of emergency.

"But the editor-in-chief declined to give us a certification that we did not take anything and did not harass anybody at the Tribune," said Pablito.

The pull-out just "took out the formal effect of the declaration", said Cacho-Olivares, who predicted that her paper would continue to be threatened.

The presence of policemen outside the Tribune's office "did not stop me from writing what I wanted to write or from publishing what I wanted to publish", said Cacho-Olivares,

The Martial Law rule of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the '70s "prepared me for last week's raid", she said, adding that her reporters started practising "self-censorship" after the declaration of the state of emergency.